Using the NIH Comparative Genomics Resource (CGR) to understand susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and other infections
Are you conducting research on animal-mediated transmission of human viral infections, such as COVID-19? The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Comparative Genomics Resource (CGR) offers a cutting-edge NCBI toolkit of high-quality genomics data and tools to help with comparative genomics analysis for eukaryotic genes, such as Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) which is targeted by SARS-CoV-2.
NCBI resources have been beneficial in helping the scientific community understand viral infections associated with public health crises, such as COVID-19 and Influenza, and can be used for study of emerging viruses that may represent new threats.
How and why should you use our resources? Consider the example below!
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, comparative genomics (example) was used to identify a range of animals potentially infected by SARS-CoV-2 by targeting their ACE2 protein, a cellular receptor for viral entry into host cells. These species represented both potential routes of transmission and new animal models to study SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans.
The following are relevant CGR and other NCBI resources that can help with your research on ACE2 genes with example records and search results.
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Compare ACE2 genomic regions in humans and bats with the Comparative Genome Viewer (CGV) |
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Examine human and bat ACE2 genomic regions alongside other annotation tracks with the Genome Data Viewer (GDV) |
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Search with a bat ACE2 protein to identify similar sequences in animals that can be found near humans, such as pigs, rabbits, and guinea pigs, using BLAST with the ClusteredNR Database |
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Explore and compare ACE2 ortholog sequences of other animals such as bearded dragons, goldfish, and parrots with NCBI Orthologs and their protein alignments |
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Assess and download genome assemblies for a custom set of organisms, such as those listed above, using NCBI Datasets |
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